Bar Mehang

Yesterday evening I went for dinner with Puk, John, Ann and my new friend Camilla.

Major is a shopping centre about 10mins walk away that has undergone a transformation since my last visit. Originally built as a cinema complex with a few shops and restaurants attached. There is now a sleek, glass and steel, curved S shaped extension containing more restaurants, banks and a small supermarket. The Villa supermarket caters for the home comforts of westerners. Unsurprisingly I haven’t felt the need to pop in for a tin of baked beans yet……….

A few bars have also sprung up nearby and last night we tried out Mehang. The roof top deck had the feeling of a (albeit Thai) beer garden about it. They were showing Premiership football on a big screen, selling beer by the three-litre pitcher and had slightly above average prices.

The atmosphere was bringing in the locals and the place was busy with almost every table filled. There were a couple of live acts playing music during the evening. Both were very good. The first act covered a Lily Allen track, and it was sung in a perfect cockney accent.

The food was good. We shared a prawn pad thai, som tum salad, morning glory and fried chicken. The presentation and reasonable sized portions made up for the slightly expensive prices. The service was a little slow, but you can’t have everything…..

Restaurant Review: Sukishi, Bangkok

John and I went for lunch today at Sukishi, which is a small chain of restaurants in Bangkok serving Korean and Japanese food.

We both went for their lunchtime special Steak Set. You get a small plate of grilled steak and fish, dipping sauces, rice, pickles, miso soup, fruit and a drink all for just over £3. Great value and deliciously tasting!

One of their specialities is to have an at your table BBQ, hence the extractor fan above our heads. They also serve my favourite Korean dish the Bi Bim Bob, which I had when I visited last week. And a wide range of Japanese sushi and sashimi.

It's a great place to go when you want something a bit more up market than the food court or street stall, but still reasonably priced.

Sukishi is one of the few restaurants to add a 10% service charge to your bill, unusual in Thailand where there isn't a big tipping culture.

Bulldog Clip Fashion

There is a University close to where I am living, which means that we invariably see a lot of uni students walking around our local shopping centre.

Uni's here in Thailand have a uniform of white shirts, and blue shorts or skirts.

An optional extra for the girls is to wear a belt and attach it to your skirt with a bulldog clip. (There are no belt loops on the skirt.)

Not sure if this is a fashion craze anywhere else in the world?

* I got this picture from the web. I haven't been stalking female students in my local shopping centre. Even if they are all achingly beautiful!

Anyone for tennis?

Last night John's flat was attacked by a swam of flies, so we reached for the mains charged electrical fly swat / tennis racket.



Probably illegal in the UK for contravening all sorts of health and safety regulations. Fun none the less!

Thailand Photo Upload

Here are some photos of my adventures so far.

Desperately seeking Katie Holmes

Ever since Dawson's Creek, I have had a bit of a crush on Katie Holmes.


On my last visit to Thailand, John got me all excited by taking me to a restaurant just round the corner; where Katie Holmes' Thai twin works as a waitress.


I had said (only half jokingly) that one of my objectives for this trip was to get a picture taken of me with the Thai Katie Holmes.











We went to the restaurant today and she no longer works there!


Thai Katie was last spotted (by John) on the Sky Train near Victory Monument.


Can you help? Have you spotted her? I'm thinking about contacting Interpol.


There is a childhood crush at stake!!!!!

Chatachuk Market

John and I headed down to Chatachuk market earlier today to get some lunch and have a look around. I think every tourist who visits Thailand has been to this sprawling weekend market that sells everything you could think of.

We had lunch at one of the stalls near the tube entrance. The photo is of me and the guy who was making the Som Tum (papaya salad), while dancing along to the music and wearing his sunglasses. He was quite a picture!

After lunch we did some shopping in the market and picked up a few gifts. As with my visit a couple of years ago it soon became oppressively hot browsing through the crowded market stalls.

We had to retreat for a massage and then back to the flat.....

Gym

Along with the swimming pool the gym is also being refurbished. In Thai style, rather than closing the gym they have moved all the equipment to the car park so you can still work out! Exercise in thirty degree heat with no air con is quite an experience!!


John and I have been going every other day. I am in almost permanent agony. I promised there is a beach body at the end of it, and with all the muscle building going on I can eat more!

Swimming

Before I came to Thailand I promised myself that I would go to for a swim every day, in an effort to get fit and to replace my daily cycle ride to work. Unfortunately this was the sight that greeted me……


They are currently refurbishing the pool and it should be ready on 28th February, so I will get a few swims in before I leave for Australia.

My new friend, Ann, and I went for a swim yesterday at a pool about 10mins away by taxi. We were the only ones there and I managed to do twenty-five lengths. Ok for someone who hasn’t been swimming in years.

After getting sun burnt in Costa Rica; over Christmas I bought myself a UV rash vest and swimming cap. I looked a complete sight, but at least I didn’t get burnt!

The view from my window

When I look out of my window I can see the Elephant Building. A local landmark in north Bangkok where I am staying.


I think it is pretty cool. Tusks, eyes and ears are all clearly evident.

First Street Food Experience

My first, but certainly won’t be my last, experience of Thai street food on this holiday. John, Puk and I went for dinner at one of the excellent street stalls at the end of the road. On my last trip I had the chicken noodle soup from this stall. Last night I tried the rice with crispy pork, which came with complimentary soup. Great tasting food. I was even adding a bit of chilli!

Dinner for the three of us was 85 baht. Even cheaper than eating at the food court.

The most fun you can have for 10 baht: Guitar Hero

I think I could become addicted to this game!

Car Pushing!

We went to the cinema last night, driven by John’s friend Puk. The car park was absolutely full. People were parking everywhere, blocking each other in.

If you park obstructing another car, etiquette dictates that you leave your car in neutral with the handbrake off. If someone then needs to get their car out, they can simply push your car out of the way. The car park can get so crowded that it might be necessary to concertina four or five cars together to make enough room for you to drive out.

There was even an official “car pusher” who walked round the car park helping people. I couldn’t resist getting involved!

Thai Food Court

I'm going to try and write a blog post a day while I'm in Thailand. So many new things to write about. I'm being slightly hampered at the moment by not carrying my camera around with me enough!

Today John and I had lunch in the food court at our local Tesco Lotus (it's a bit like being at home, although with an Asian twist).

Food courts are a big part of grabbing a quick and cheap meal in Thailand. Although they have been known to fox even serial travellers like my friend Blue Eyes.

There is always a little counter somewhere in the food court where you hand over your money (100 baht per person should do) and you will be given a book of vouchers or, in the more modern places, a charge card in return.

All the way round the edge of the food court, will be stalls selling a few dishes each. There will also be a drinks counter. Most stalls usually have a picture of what they sell and the price for the uninitiated tourist.

There will be a central area that has forks and spoons, although clean, it is worth dunking them in the boiling water to give them a quick sterilisation.

Order what you want, sit down and tuck in! John and I got all the dishes above and a couple of bottles of water for 120 baht. We each got chicken with rice, a soup and a som tum (spicy papaya salad) to share. Delicious and good practice to build up my chilli tolerance.

When you have finished hand your vouchers back into the desk and they will refund you any unspent money.

Bangkok Baby!!

I arrived in Bangkok yesterday and have already got the keys to the flat that I am going to be renting while I'm here. I hope to post a video online sometime in the next few days, so you can all see what it looks like.

The flight with Emirates was pretty good. They have a deserved reputation for being a good airline. The food, customer service, entertainment system and leg room were all better than I've experienced with other airlines in economy. The coolest thing was that you can watch the a camera in the nose and underbelly of the plane at any time. Take of and landing were pretty cool!

Traditional, for my trips to Thailand at least, to get over the jet lag we went out partying. Model Nights are a big thing here in Bangkok. If you've got a model card, bars and clubs give you free drinks vouchers. I was a hanger on with the beautiful people.

New York Photos

I've uploaded a few photos from my recent trip to New York. You can find them here. I hope you like them!

A little bit daunted...

My world adventure starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time I'm going to miss all my friends and family back here in the UK. There are always a few "what ifs?" at the back of your mind.

I'm sure I will get over it soon enough!

A Vimeo experiment

When I was in New York last week I made a trip back to Summit New Jersey, where I spent an excellent weekend while I was living in NY last summer. Here is a video of my visit.

Pretty rough around the edges and made on a combination of some French shareware software and Picassa.

It's a bit of an insider joke, but I thought I would make it my blogs first video.

The United Nations

Along with Ellis Island, the other tourist attraction I wanted to visit on this trip to New York was to take a tour of the United Nations. Ever since my Politics A'level I've been interested in the operation of institutions like the UN.

The tour takes about 45mins and you are told a bit about the workings of the UN, it's different divisions, charters and goals. To me the most interesting part of the tour was going inside the General Assembly (not to be confused with the more famous Security Council). As with many guided tours you enjoyment factor is largely dependent on the quality of your guide. Ours was good, but not exceptional. Which left me enjoying the tour, but feeling that it could have been a bit more exciting.

Wasted Puchase

While I was in New York I decided to treat myself to a case for my new iPod Touch. After much debating I decided to go for an Air Jacket, as it would still mean the iPod could fit snuggly in my pocket.

I've just got home and it doesn't fit. I have inadvertently bought a 1st generation and not 2nd generation case. Doh! Fourteen day exchange guarantee isn't much good when you are out of the country.

Anyone with an iPod Touch first generation want an air jacket?

Ellis Island

Yesterday I took a tour around the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, where there is an Immigration Museum. I'd wanted to go when I was living in New York last summer, but was one of the things that I never got round to.....

In the summer months there are long queues for the tours and even in yesterday's bitterly cold weather I was surprised to see so many tourists waiting to get the boat across to Liberty Island from Battery Park.

Although iconic I wasn't that excited by the Statue of Liberty. Post September 11th you can no longer go to the top, and are now limited to walking round the outside and on the plinth of the great statue. It certainly is impressive, but I had the "if you have seen it once, you have seen it a million times" type feeling. Perhaps the cold was dampening my spirits!

However, I very much enjoyed Ellis Island and the Immigration museum. The informative audio guide gives you lots of information on the number of immigrants that arrived in New York, where they came from and how they were processed. It is amazing to think of the millions of people who arrived in New York to start a new life and not really knowing what to expect.

What to call myself?

When you're travelling you meet a lot of new people who seem to be persistently asking "What do you do?" It's a question I'm struggling to answer.

Possible answers include:

Backpacking / Travelling - isn't this something that you only do when you leave uni? I fear that saying you are "travelling" at the age of 28 implies that you have been a drop out since finishing my degree. I'm also trying to avoid flea infested hostels and be a flashpacker.

Unemployed - this seems to provoke a conversation killing "I'm sorry" and the assumption that you have been fired from your previous job.

Retired - not strictly true, but gets across the message that you are out of work by choice. Also makes you sound minted (and I have been told pretentious), which I can only wish were (I hope isn't) true.

I need to develop an answer that both accurately describes what I am doing and impresses all the attractive single ladies that I hope to meet. "I'm on a gap year?"

Reader Dispatch: New York

My good friend Olly Kendall writes for Guardian Unlimited, which gave me the idea to try and tout my services and see if I could get anyone interested in some travel articles while I'm away.

My first efforts were published on the Guardian Been there! site today. You can see the page here. Strangely, my throw away sentences at the start of my email were also included!

Shakespearemate - see if you can spot the plagiarism. I thought it only fair after you published my photos on your blog! ;-)

Unfortunately, I'm not getting paid for my literary services at the moment, but you have to start somewhere!

Skiing in New Jersey!

Yesterday I went skiing at Mountain Creek, near the town of Vernon in New Jersey. I was a bit shocked to discover that you could ski only 40 miles from Manhattan, but you can!

Seven of us squeezed ourselves into Julia's parents SUV and drove up there on Sunday morning. The resort was pretty small, with only 4 lifts open, but it was good enough for a days skiing. Although any longer and the lack of variety in the slopes might get a bit monotonous. 

The ski hire and buying of lift passes is pretty efficiently organised to maximise your time on the slopes.

Previously I've only ever skied in Europe and it was a slight culture shock to hear American and not French voices twittering around me. More than 50% of the people on the slopes were also snow boarders, which is not something I am used to in Europe either, where skiing still dominates.

The two disappointments of the day were the icy slopes after lunch, and the number of out of control snow boarders there seemed to be on the pistes. Resulting in us witnessing quite a few crashes and accidents. They don't seem to take many lessons over here!

New York Blisters

Yesterday I spent the day pounding the streets of New York and managed to get a blister on my little toe (which is a detail I'm sure you all wanted to know).

I started the morning by checking out Weehawken (in New Jersey) where I'm staying, to determine that there really isn't much around!

I took the bus to Port Authority and spent the day visiting familiar sites in Manhattan. Time Square, breakfast at Daniel's Bagels near my old flat on 38th and 3rd, shopping on 5th Avenue.

I marched all the way down to SOHO via Madison Square Park and the famous Shake Shack which I was pleasantly surprised to see open, as I thought it was closed in the winter. I took a couple of pictures of the Flat Iron, but the light wasn't helping me and I don't think they will come out too well.

For the first time, I was a bit disappointed with SOHO; the CK shop had virtually run out of all clothes in a medium and Eight Mile Creek couldn't quench my thirst as it was closed. There was nothing for it, but a Pastrami Sandwich at the famous Katz's Deli. The manager / owner of the deli was doing a bit of a floor walk speaking to the customers. He accused me of being a first time visiting tourist. I cheekily said that I used to live in New York and was just coming back for a fix.

After my late lunch I walked up to my old office in the Metlife, above Grand Central, to meet ex-colleagues and go for a drink.

London to Newark

I flew to the New York yesterday from Terminal 5. It was my second visit to the terminal and I'm actually quite impressed with the ambiance, facilities, lounges (unfortunately not sampled on this occasion) and the amount of seating in the terminal. The one thing that perplexed me slightly was that I left from Gate 10A and needed to get a bus to the plane. This seemed to be the case for quite a few gates. Who designs a brand new airport terminal without air bridges to all gates? Bizarre.

For the first time in my life I was upgraded at check-in and flew Economy Plus instead of Economy. I won't look a gift horse in the mouth and I was certainly grateful for the additional legroom and the absence of screaming babies in the cabin. However, I'm not sure that I would ever pay to fly Economy Plus for myself. The service levels and food don't seem to be any different from flying at the back of the plane (except you get offered a paper when you board). However, if you want to upgrade me on the way back BA I certainly won't say no!

I'm staying with a friend near Hoboken in New Jersey. Just about to head into Manhattan for some exploring.

Travel Stats

After publishing my travel stats last year, I thought I would share them again for 2008.

Miles cycled this year: 1,072
Miles driven this year: 2,175*
Flights taken (return): London - New York, New York - Las Vegas, London - Costa Rica & London - Tokyo.

I won't be getting any green awards this year, and I'm disappointed that for the first time in three years I have driven more than I have cycled. However, I only spent 8 months in the saddle, and am pleased to have passed the 1,000 mile mark.

*I lent my car to my mum for the three months while I was in New York. This is the total mileage the car has travelled this year, not necessarily driven by me.

Clothes Recycling

I've decided to have a bit of a turn out before I go travelling. Choosing what to pack, and de-clutter for my flatmates while I'm gone.

I'm intending to get rid of quite a few clothes. Some idle investigation of clothes recycling leads me to believe there are three options.

Donate your clothes to a Charity Shop for them to re-sell
I've actually had a few friends who have been told that there clothes aren't wanted! I don't own any designer labels and the clothes I'm intending to get rid of are are a bit "worn in".

Give your clothes to a charity for emergency relief zones
I think everyone knows the drill here. You donate clothes to a charity and they fly them somewhere in the world where they are needed.

Your clothes are broken down and the fibres are re-used
This one was new to me. Apparently your clothes can be broken down and the cotton fibres re-spun and made into something new.

I think Options 2 & 3 are ones for me. The clothes I'm intending to get rid might not be the height of fashion, but are still in pretty decent condition. They are mainly 100% cotton or wool.

Is the charity bin in the supermarket carpark a safe bet?

Books are a lot less complicated, Oxfam welcome them with open arms.

Lego for grown ups: A RAM upgrade

My dad has been complaining about his slow computer. I went onto Crucial's website and ran a scan of his PC. The website tells you how much RAM the computer currently has, what capacity there is to upgrade the PC and exactly what to order. Very helpful and efficient.

I bought additional memory from Funky Giraffe, run by my old school friend Sarah.

I installed the new RAM, and then the computer wouldn't turn on. I took the memory out and put the old stuff back in. Nothing. At this point I began to panic mildly that I had broken my dad's laptop.

My dad installed the memory and it worked first time like a dream. Embarrassingly I spent two summers working in a computer factory as a uni student. Sarah reminded me that while I was working in the factory I dropped a computer, so perhaps I'm not a natural...